Technical difficulties extend contest

The USA TODAY national best high school mascot competition has been extended by a couple of days due to technical difficulties. Members of Greenback nation who attempted to vote on Thursday, the original closing day for regional competition, found themselves thwarted by an uncooperative USA TODAY website.

Comment

PrattTribune - Pratt, KS

Writer

Posted Mar. 15, 2013 at 11:46 AM
Updated Mar 15, 2013 at 11:50 AM

Posted Mar. 15, 2013 at 11:46 AM
Updated Mar 15, 2013 at 11:50 AM

Pratt

The USA TODAY national best high school mascot competition has been extended by a couple of days due to technical difficulties. Members of Greenback nation who attempted to vote on Thursday, the original closing day for regional competition, found themselves thwarted by an uncooperative USA TODAY website.

According to information posted on the voting website on Friday, a flurry of last-minute voting nationwide had swamped the website’s technical capabilities, slowing it to a crawl— with the result that most who attempted to vote on Friday found themselves unable to do so.

After fielding numerous complaints from frustrated mascot supporters, USA TODAY decided to reopen the voting for a few days next week to try to give everyone who wanted to vote the opportunity to do so.

The voting is scheduled to reopen Monday at 2 p.m. Central Daylight Time and continue until Wednesday, 2 p.m. CDT. The website at which to vote is http://contest.usatodayhss.com

Greenback supporters are urged to vote as much as possible when voting reopens. The Greenback was still ahead of its nearest competitor as of the last vote count, but only by less 1%—29,000 votes out of the 4 million+ votes that have been cast.

With Pratt High School on Spring Break next week and the nearest competitor not, it may be up to Greenback Nation to put the Fighting Frog over the top.

Gary Eppler, PHS Class of ’60, has issued a challenge to everyone who believes in “Once a Greenback”: “Here's what I would like to challenge each of you to do: recruit friends and family members of all ages to vote (when voting reopens.). Let's show the PHS community that we are here to support them even in trying times. If everyone would recruit at least 10 people who will each vote 100 times for the three days, we should come out on top— which is where all of us want PHS to be with our unique mascot. Consider people of all ages, younger children could probably do this level of voting many times faster than some of us. However, us older folks may have more time to devote to this. Don't over look anyone.”

It’s getting down to crunch time, Greenback nation. Let’s come through like Greenbacks always do!